Artificially-strengthened paper.



. A. SMITH.

' ARTIFIOIALLY STRENGTHENED PAPER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 23, 1909.

1,014,341; Patented Jan.9,1912.

Ej 5 L F,

lV/TNESSES: INVENTOR:

A TTORNIE V.

TAES PATENT onnion.

AURELIUS SMITH, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, -INDIANA..

ARTIFICIALLY-STRENGTHENED PAPER...

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 9,1912.

Application filed December 23, 1909. Serial No. 534,718.

fabrics, vellum, or the like, adapted to be used in sheet or leaf formand bound together, temporarily or permanently; the invention havingreference more particularly to paper sheets or leaves, either printedwith rulings and headings to constitute business forms, or blank sheets,or reading matter,

" adapted to be connected together by means of mechanicaltemporarybinders 0r filing devices, the sheets being either perforatedto receive binding devices,'or imperforate, as may be required toconform to the requirements of the binding or filing devices used orpreferred.

In the use of paper sheets, especially such as comprise printed formsfor mercantile purposes in ofiices, factories and elsewhere, it beingcustomary and desirable to bind the sheets together so as'to bepractically in book form, it has been found that much trouble andexpense has been occasioned on account of the sheets or leaves tearingat the binding or where they are connected to binding or filing devices,especially when the sheets are perforated near their edges to receivethe filing devices, and in some cases the sheets have been reinforcednear their edges by means of pieces of cloth or paper glued or pasted tothe sheets, which expedient, however, while being fairly successful inpreventing fracture of the sheets, necessarily adds so much to' thethickness of the sheets that the practice proves greatly objectionablebecause ofthe fact that there.

must be a much less number of sheets than ordinarily placedv in abinder.

The object of the present invention is to provide an improved paper orlike substance in sheet form that shall be stronger or have greatertensile strength in some portions than in others without entailing theobjectionable multiplication of thickness due to additions of welts ofpaper or the like to the sheets; a specific object being to providepaper or the like with strengthened portions in which are perforationsto receive binding devices, in order that not only the better quality ofpaper may be improved for binding purposes, but that inferior paper,which otherwise is suitable for order blanks and other printed forms,may be cheaply adapted to be bound together durably and economically.

With the above mentioned and minor objects in view the inventionconsists in improved paper or like substance in sheet form havingportions thereof strengthened artificially near an edge thereof, thestrengthened portions being flexible and either perforate orimperforate, and the invention consists further in the parts andcombinations and arrangements of parts, as hereinafter particularlydescribed, and then defined in the accompanying claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of one of theimproved sheets of paper partially broken away; Fig. 2, a frag mentaryplan View showing the strengthened portions of the sheet sllghtlymodified 4 as to shape; Fig. 3, a fragmentary plan showing anothermodification as to shape of the strengthenedportion; Fig. 4, a plan viewshowing another'modification asto arrangement of the strengthenedportion; Fig. 5, a fragmentary section greatly magnified on the line A Ain Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a fragmentary section highly magnified on the line BB in Fig. 4.; Fig. 7,a agmentary view of a sheet highly magnified asviewed at the binding edge; and Fig.8, a sectional view on the line C Cin Fig. 5.

Similar reference characters in the difierent figures of the drawingsindicate correspending elements or features .of construction hereinreferred to. r

In practically carrying out the objects of the invention sheets ofvarious kinds'of material or substance may be used that may be founddesirable, sheet paper being more commonly employed in various businessenterprises, in the conduct of which a large variety of blank forms arecommonly used,

and, therefore, the invention is conveniently described as relating topaper sheets a and a, the former being adapted to be bound at one sideedge, the top b having suitable headings a thereon, d indicating thebinding edge portion; the other sheet a being designed to be bound atthe head or top 6' on .which is a suitable heading 0.

The sheet a is stren thened throughout its length from top to ottom andfrom the edge 03 to a suitable distance to insure being engaged byclamping binding apparatus, the strengthening element comprismg flexibleand tough adhesive substances and 'e' on the front and back respectivelyof the sheet extending from the edge d to f, the substance preferablyhaving fibrous material g embedded therein and is covered on theexterior by a non-adhesive substanceh, h all compressed on the sheet,and the joints 6, 2" between the. strengthening material and the sheetbeing uneven as the result of the strengthened material entering thesurfaces of the pa er when moist and subject to pressure. T estrengthened portlon'has one or more apertures as j, j, there- Y in nearthe edge 03 and slots k, is, extending from the apertures to the edge(Z, thus permitting the sheets to be slipped onto or off of rods orbinding rings laterallywithout necessitating the removal of other,sheets.

Fig. 4 showsa, portion of a sheet adapted to be bound at the side edge(1, which edge portion has a perforation Z therein extending through arelatively small strengthened m. that extends from the binding portionm, edge beyond the perforation to n and upward and downward beyond theperforation to 0 and 0- respectively, and it should be understood thatthe sheet may have any suitable number of suchstrengthened portionsextending around the perforations.

In Fig. 2 the head or top portion of the sheet a" has two strengthenedportions p and p'similar to the strengthened portion m, but extendingdownward from the bind- I ing end 6, the strengthenedportions hav- ,ingperforations g and g respectively therein to receive the bindingdevices.

'In Fig. 3, is shown a circular strengthened portion 1' near the bindingedge and a perforation s in the strengthened portion.

It will be understood. that the strengthened portions may be of variousshapes in plan. as may be desired, but in practice the strengthenedportions are not and should not be materially thicker than the remaining-portions of the sheet, and it will be understood that in some casesthe strengthening material may be used on onl one side of the sheet;also that the binding edge in some cases may not require slittingintothe binding apertures and that sired the slitted binding edge ortion maybe strengthened only around an adjacent to theapertures and'slitsinstead of extending throughout the length of the sheet. thermore whendesired to reduce the cost of production to the minimum the fibrousmaterial 9 may be omitted with consequent'loss of strength.

when de- Fur- The strengthening material may be composed of varioussubstances and for the present it is found that the compositionbepreferably mixed therewithv before mixing these with the glue. In somecases it is found desirable to vinegar to the glue, and if desired asmall quantity of oil of sassafras may be stirred into the composition.If desired a small quantity of "carbolic acid may be added forpreserving the quality of the material.

The composition should be of proper con sistency' to be toughyet'sufiicient-ly' thin that it may enter the fiber of the paper, and 1tmay be applied by rubbing 1t ontothe sur face of the paper by means ofasuitable brush or otherwise, after-which the coatings h, h, areapplied, so as to render the strengthening material non-adhesive'on 1tssurface, and the coatings may be composed of whiting, aluminum, orbronze. -When 1t is desired to further strengthen the portions of thepaper the fibrous material 9 1s sifted or otherwlse placed on theadhesive material moistens the portions of the paper on which it isplaced, and after the application of the non-adhesive substance thesheets are passed between rollers under tened down nearly to the planeof the sur face of the sheet, and the fibrous substance add a smallquantity of (to be pressed into it) before applying the coatingsthereon. The adhesive composition.

pressure, so that the strengthening material 1s smoothed andflatembedded in the other strengthening material and the sheet under thestrengthened material slightly reduced in thickness, as illustrated inFigs. '5 and 6, in an exaggerated degree. In some cases the strengthenedportions are also brushed in order to polish them when coated withbronze or the like.

It will be evident fromthe foregoing that the strengthened sheets orleaves when connected to binding devices may be turned or moved on therods or rings of the devices, more freely and rapidly than is possiblewith the ordinary frail sheets, owing to the fact thatthe perforationsma be made nearer than -ordinarily to the e ges of the sheets, which ispermissible by reasonof the greater strength attained in the presentimprovement at the portions that are subject to the greater strains.

In practical'use the sheets may be bound together by any suitableappliances or connected together by various filing devices, and.

it will be clear that the sheets ma be handled and removed and replacedas s customparts of the mass forming the paper; but it ary with more orless frequency without the liability of the paper to tear away at thebinding portions, and the sheets, therefore will remain ingood conditionand arrangement for future reference thereto.

I am aware that prior to my invention it has been proposed to strengthenportions of sheets of paper by applying reinforcing material, such asfabric, to the pulp of the paper while in the process of manufacture, sothat the pulp interpenetrates the interstices of the fabric and coversboth sides of the fabric; or by sprinkling threads or fibers on the pulpwhile the paper is in process of manufacture so as to be incorporated asis evident that since pulp can not be formed into separate sheets ofpaper except at great expense, and that the paper is made in Web formmost successfully, it is not practicable to reinforce certain portionsonly of the webat measured distances apart and afterward cut the webinto sheets with th e reinforcement at the edges of the sheets.

I am aware alm that it has been a common practice to glue or pasterelatively stiff reinforcing strips or pieces upon the surface of paper,and perforate the paper and the reinforcement, with the result that-thereinforcement ends abruptly and the paper is liable to fracture at theedge of the reinforcement. I therefore do not broadly claim suchreinforced paper; but

that I do claim, is,

In reinforced paper, the combination of a sheet formed of pulp, flexibleinherently adhesive substance laid on and adhering to a portion of saidsheet, fibrous material embedded in said adhesive substance adjacentsaid portion of said sheet, and non-adhesive substance laid on thesurface of said adhe-j sive substance and thereby retained and coveringthe fibrous material.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

AURELIUS SMITH.

Witnesses:

DAVID C. MORRIS, WILLIAM H. Por'rs.

